WOMEN AND MEN’S LANGUAGE IN THE NOVEL ‘EAT PRAY LOVE’ BY ELIZABETH GILBERT
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WOMEN AND MEN’S LANGUAGE IN THE NOVEL ‘EAT PRAY LOVE’
BY ELIZABETH GILBERT
By :
NI MADE SRI INDRASWARI
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF
LETTERS AND CULTURE
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
abstrak
Skripsi yang berjudul “ Women and Men’s Language in The ‘ Novel Eat pray Love’ By Elizabeth Gilbert” bertujuan untuk menemukan perbedaan antara bahasa yang digunakan oleh karakter pria dan wanita dalam novel ini dan juga menemukan beberapa factor yang mempengaruhi perbedaannya. Data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini bersumber dari novel karangan Elizabeth Gilbert yang berjudul “Eat Pray Love”. Novel ini dipilih sebagai sumber data karena terdapat banyak percakapan antara pria dengan wanita, wanita dengan wanita dan pria dengan pria yang jelas menunjukan perbedaan pemilihan kata-kata baik dalam situasi formal maupun nonformal. Masing- masing karakter dalam novel ini berasal dari latar belakang social dan status yang berbeda yang mempengaruhi bahasa mereka.
Teori yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini adalah theory of women’s language yang diusulkan oleh Lakkof (1975). Lakkof mengemukakanbahwa wanita lebih berhati- hati dalam memilih kata- kata dibanding pria. Sedangkan bahasa pria menggunakan teori yang diusulkan oleh Coates (1986). Dalam investigasinya Coates menemukan bahwa pria memiliki gaya bahasa tertentu seperti penggunaan taboo words sementara itu jarang muncul dalam bahasa wanita. Kedua teori diatas sangat berkaitan dalam pengelompokan bahasa yang digunakan oleh masing- masing karakter dalam novel ini. Berdasarkan hasil analisis, hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan perbedaan dari kedua gaya bahasa. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa dalam beberapa kasus ditemukan bahwa perempuan dengan latar belakang pendidikan yang baik dan status yang lebih sopan daripada pria. Wanita selalu menunjukkan feminitas dalam pembicaraan mereka dan laki-laki selalu menunjukkan maskulinitas dalam percakapan mereka.
Kata kunci : women and men’s language, women and men’s linguistic features, masculinity, femininity
We believe that women and men have different styles in any conditions, especially in their language. Many sociolinguists suggest that men and women speak differently in any community. Linguists claim that women are more
linguistically polite than men and women and men emphasize different speech functions. It is found that English-speaking men and women often use different linguistic forms even in the same speech community. Although in some languages, men and women culturally speak differently in terms of pronounciation or lexical choice. This study was focused on different language used by the women and men’s characters in the novel and what factors influence their language.
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1. How men and women use their language in the novel “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert?
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2. What factors determine the different use of men and women’s language in the novel “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert?
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1. To discover the differences between women’s and men’s language in this novel.
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2. To find the kind of language used by the characters and to find some factors that influence the different use of men and women’s language in the novel.
This study used novel “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert published in 2006 as the data source. Then the data source was taken from the written dialogue in the novel. The utterances in this novel can be women’s linguistic features and men’s linguistic features. This novel was chosen as the data in this study because it contains many conversations between women themselves, between men themselves, and also between women and men either in formal or informal situation that need to be analyzed in order to classify their linguistic features.
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4.2 Method and technique of Collecting Data
The method used was the library research by collecting the library books which described the theories of women’s and men’s language. There are some steps required in collecting the data. Such as :
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1. Reading the dialogue in the novel to choos words that contain the women’s and men’s language in order to indentify the different languages used by woman and men character in that novel. The women’s characters almost use the main character named Liz and supported with the other character named Sofie. In this novel some men characters were also found, one of the male characters is Giovani who acts as a lover Liz. And many other characters used as data in this study.
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2. Note taking for the data and ordering it into list.
The collected data were analyzed qualitatively in a descriptive way. The women’s linguistic features and their functions were analyzed based on theory proposed by Lakoff (1975) and the men’s language was analyzed the theory from Coates (1986).
The data were processed through several steps. First, choosing the utterances which were relevant with the scope of discussion. Then the collected data were analyzed as women and men’s linguistic features in order to indentify the men and women’s language.
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5. THE ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S AND MEN’S LANGUAGE IN THE NOVEL ‘EAT PRAY LOVE’ BY ELIZABETH GILBERT
Liz : To be losing David right after the failure of my marriage, and right after the terrorizing of my city, and right during the worst ugliness of divorce (a life experience my friend Brian has compared to “having a really bad car
accident every single day for about two years”)…well, this was simply to much.
Analysis : The sentence above shows that the writer through bed experiences in life, but now she has been separated. It was clearly seen that she was really uncertain about what she talked about. The hedge well showed her lack selfconfidence since she knew that she was run into bad condition.
Liz : And every month when I got my period I would find myself whispering furtively in the bathroom:” Thank you, thank you for giving me one more month to live”…
Analysis : The main character, Liz used superpolite form thank you in her utterance above. She used repetition pattern to strengthen the meaning of her utterance. It showed that she is very grateful for what God has given her. She was very nervous about the pregnancy, because she thinks that the pregnancy is a metter that will burden the hardest of her life.
Imagine now, If you will, all the opportunities for mockery this idea unleashed in my wise-ass friends. I wanted to go to the Three I’s, did I ?
Analysis : The word “did I” showed that she convinced herself to go to the three I’s. But her friend doesn’t agree with her idea, because it will be a bad planning. She is uncertain about something, and indicates this with a tag which signals doubt about what she is asserting
Liz : Most of time (still so troubled from bailing out of my marriage) I didn’t even dare to answer the question, but just thrilled privately to its existence. And when I finally started to answer, I did so cautiously. I would only allow myself to express little baby-step wants.
Analysis : Liz used word so in her utterance to show her feeling about the divorce. She was devastated to face her marriage should be end. She preferred using the word so rather than very, which actually had the same meaning. The utterance “still so troubled from bailing out of my marriage,” which meant that she emphasize the intensity of the word “troubled”
The word just spoken by Liz the main character emphasized the sentence thrilled privately to its existence. She wanted to emphasize how she felt about the divorce. She wasn’t ready to face the separation with the person she loves and she wished all her anxiety soon be finished. She used intensifier just in her utterance in order to emphasized that she actually desperate.
A sad-faced Russian women tells us she’s treating herself to Italian lessons because “I think I deserve something beautiful.” The German engineer says, “I want Italian because I love the dolca vita” the sweet life.
Analysis : She used empty adjective “sweet” showed the speaker approbation of the German engineer who loved his life when he learn Italian. This is one of many reasons why she is interested in join to Italian class, they can share their opinion and their feeling about Italian. To her, Italian is the most seductively beautiful language in the world, and she is not the only person who thinks so.
I have been trying to read through one newspaper article every day no matter how long it takes. I look up approximately every third word in my dictionary.
Analysis : The utterance spoken by Liz above is in the appropriate form: Subject + have + been + verb-ing. The use of standard forms is generally associated with high education or high social class. Here, her utterance showed her high social background and her social status in the community. She is a professional American woman in her mid-thirties, she has worked since she was very young and of course she already has a lot of work experiences, this reflects her high social class. Besides, standard speech forms
are used in contexts where people operate primarily in terms of social status and role (Holmes, 1992: 178).
The kid didn’t look very fat to me, but that many have been because he was a gypsy I’m not sure if I misread the last line of the article, but it seemed there was some talk from the government that the only way to deal with the obesity crisis in Italy was to implement a tax on the overweight…? Could this be true? After a few months of eating like this, will they come after me?
Analysis :Elizabeth used raising intonation in her utterance above. She used question intonation for seeking confirmation. For liz, the article from government that the only way to deal with the obesity crisis in Italy was to implement a tax on the overweight is not make sense. The question intonation here shows the unwillingness to assert opinion carried to an extreme.
When the drug is withheld, you promptly turn sick, crazy and depleted (not mention resentful of the dealer who encouraged this addiction in the first place but who now refuses to pony up the good stuff anymore-despite the fact that you know he has it hidden somewhere, goddamn it, because he used to give it to you for free)
Analysis : In this case, the utterance “goddamn it” above showed how she expresses her feeling because she has dependency on always getting attention from david, but since the divorce she felt desperate, she never get attention again. That’s why she used words “goddamn it” to express extreme displeasure about what she felt.
I do know these drugs made my misery feel less catastrophic. So I’m grateful for that. But I’m still deeply ambivalent about moodaltering medications. I’m awed by their power, but concerned by their prevalence
Analysis : Women usually strengthen an utterance to describe their judgement about something. It was an easier to express their idea or feeling about something. Liz used emphatic stress “deeply” to show her feeling about the drugs that could easily change her mood. She felt the drugs can help from feeling devastated about the divorce, she awed by their power but concerned their prevalence.
Ketut Liyer : My painting, always the same painting when Bali was paradise, maybe one thousand years ago. Painting of jungle, animals, women with what is word? Breast. Women with breast. Difficult for me to find time to make painting because of medicine man. It is my profession. It is my Hobby.
Analysis : From the sentence above Ketut Liyer talked about his hobby , about how he developed his painting hobby into a business that gives him many advantages. But now he has to run a profession that has been passed down from generation to generation by families as a medicine man. From those sentences showed that when men start a conversation, their topic would be not far from masculinity.
I remember once reaching for my privat notebook in a bitter fury of rage and sorrow, and scrawling a message to my inner voice to my devine interior comfort that took up an entire page of capital letters:
“I DO NOT FUCKING BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!!”
Analysis : The sentence above showed that men use more swear and taboo words than women. It sounds masculine and tough when using those words. men typically use taboo words in his social life . It is because the value of their politeness is not like a woman.
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5.3 Social and Cultural factors in Different Use of Men’s and Women’s Language
Lakoff (1973, 1975) focused largely on the question of why women might use more tentative language than men. In this novel more women polite than men. It was evident from the language used by the women character in this novel, she used super polite form “ I would always” as a formal politeness. This is based on the educational background of the women character. Another the men character in this novel who only used the common language like “I always”. Based on the analysis of women and men’s language in this novel the woman use standard speech forms than men because they are more status-conscious than men.
Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that in their language women speak with reference to the rules of politeness. It is evident from the language used by women character in this novel. It shows that women pay more attention to use of language either in formal and informal situation. In this novel women were also found not only used neutral words in their talk, but also women’s word, like : adorable, sweet, lovely. Not like women, men used more common language in this novel, it shows that men do not pay attention to the use of language in their talk.
Women and men talk differently due to some factors . They are cultural, not biological and not attributable to a mere position of power. How women and men are raised to use language will effect how they behave. Based on the analysis women were found to use more tentative language than men. Explanations have been of two general forms: power/dominance theories and cultural difference social-learning theories
Coates, Jenifer&Cameron, Deborah. 1988, Women in their speech comunities: New Perspectives on Language and sex. London: Longman
Coates, Jenifer. 1986. Women, Men, Language. Longman Group limited, UK
Holmes, Janet. 1984. General Linguistics. ‘Women’s Language’ : a functional approach. London: Longman
Lakoff, Robin. 1975. Language and Woman’s place. Harper&Row, New York
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